It is in the fires of suffering that God purifies his saints and brings them to the highest things. It is in the furnace their faith is tested, their patience is tried, and they are developed in all those rich virtues which make up Christian character. It is while they are passing through deep waters that he shows how close he can come to his praying, believing saints.
E. M. Bounds, The Essentials of Prayer. The bottom line is that we need trials. We need to be run through the fire. We cannot live without the testings and the training of God. In His sovereign wisdom, He will make us holy through these difficult times. But we must respond in faith lest the trials be upon us in vain. The famous Puritan adage is true: the same sun which melts the ice, hardens the clay. May our hearts be as ice, not clay. May we not harden our hearts in the midst of God’s refining process.
0 Comments
|
Archives
July 2022
Categories |